2024.09.19. The Fair Economy — Amid recent rapid climate change causing unexpected weather events such as heatwaves, tropical nights, and localized heavy rain, errors in automatic weather observation equipment that produce fundamental data for forecasts and disaster mitigation have continued to increase. Moreover, of the ten incidents that occurred this year, three took more than a day to recover, prompting calls for thorough cause analysis and remediation.
Kim Ju-yeong, a member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee, announced on the 19th that an analysis of the "Status of Failures in Observation Equipment Held by the Korea Meteorological Administration" provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration showed that the number of errors in automatic weather observation equipment (ASOS and AWS) increased by about four times, from 130 cases in 2014 to 541 cases in 2023.
Automatic weather observation equipment for ground weather is broadly divided into two types. There is the "Automatic Synoptic Observation System (ASOS)," which automatically observes weather elements at weather stations, and the "Automatic Weather Station (AWS)," which supports weather observation in island regions to resolve observation gaps. Both are basic equipment used for weather forecasting and disaster prevention weather monitoring, such as precipitation and snowfall.
Over the past 10 years, the total number of failures of automatic weather observation equipment (ASOS·AWS) reached 3,129 cases. As of August this year, 430 errors had occurred, marking the second highest on record.
The repair of these equipment errors also takes considerable time. Among the 541 automatic weather observation equipment failures that occurred last year, 164 cases (30%) required more than a day for emergency repairs, with three out of ten cases taking at least a day and some taking up to 48 hours or longer.
In response, the Korea Meteorological Administration has been increasing its annual budget each year to replace aging ground-based observation equipment, including ASOS, AWS, and cloud height and amount meters. The equipment replacement budget increased steadily, from 2.951 billion won in 2020 to 4.084 billion won in 2021, 4.792 billion won in 2022, 4.974 billion won in 2023, and 5.124 billion won in 2024. However, the budget proposal for next year's ground-based observation equipment replacement, compiled by the agency this year, has actually decreased to 3.435 billion won.
Errors in marine weather observation equipment, which observes water temperature, wave height, and wind direction at sea, are also increasing. The number of failures in wave buoys, which observe wave height and wave period in coastal areas, increased by more than three times, from 44 cases in 2014 to 135 cases in 2023. Failures in other marine weather buoys and marine fog observation equipment also showed an increasing trend.
Failures have also been frequently occurring in the recently introduced road weather observation equipment, with 16 cases in 2023 and 24 in 2024. In particular, most errors in the road weather observation network, which transmits data in real time to navigation services (such as TMAP and Kakao Navi), occur in the power communication units, raising concerns that service provision could be disrupted.
In response, Rep. Kim Ju-yeong emphasized, "Unexpected weather phenomena such as heat waves, tropical nights, localized heavy rain, and nighttime heavy rain are occurring due to abnormal climate, and I am concerned that errors in weather observation equipment are increasing day by day. Since observation data is the core of accurate forecasting, we must thoroughly identify and address the causes of weather equipment failures to enhance public trust in weather data."
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